OK, so today my brother and I went into Boston. Here are the alarms I saw:
The Quincy Adams MBTA Red Line station has Wheelock MT-24-LSM horn/strobes for the most part, and a few Wheelock MT-24-MCW horn/strobes in the parking garage as well. Most of the pull stations are Notifier BG-8s, but I also saw a BG-10 pull somewhere on the fifth level of the parking garage, and there were also a few Notifier BG-12 pulls behind Stopper IIs.
The Quincy Center MBTA station had unknown horns behind SAE V33 strobe plates.
Wollaston, North Quincy, JFK/UMass and Andrew had Wheelock AS and/or MT horn/strobes for the most part, and Broadway had SpectrAlert horn/strobes covering up where larger alarms probably were. Pull stations were mostly BG-12s.
The Downtown Crossing MBTA station had Wheelock MT-24-MCW horn/strobes, FCI-branded BG-12 pulls, and at least one FCI MS-2. One of the Stopper IIs (I think it was here) was really dirty and was hard to see the BG-12 pull underneath!
The State MBTA station also had an interesting setup; unknown horns behind SAE V33 strobe plates, but the pulls were BG-12s! There was also a Wheelock AS horn/strobe somewhere.
The Aquarium MBTA subway station had SpectrAlert horn/strobes, and Notifier smokes and I think BG-12s.
The New England Aquarium itself has an interesting system. In the main lobby, gift shop and the newer jellyfish exhibit wing, they have horizontal 4903 rectangular Simplex signals. I managed to see through a couple of the grilles, and they looked something like this:
with the silver metal circle in the middle of another flat black circle. So this means they are most likely speaker/strobes. They also had one of these in the men’s room! Right at the main doors are two remote 4903 strobes as well.
The main aquarium tank area doesn’t have a lot of signals. I saw those two Edwards Adapt-a-Horns that Firefly mentioned. One of them was tilted to the side. I don’t know if they are still connected or if they are even part of the fire alarm system. At one doorway I saw what appears to be a Wheelock NS horn/strobe. On the top level of the tank, I saw that Simplex 4030 flush-mount horn several members reported seeing. I highly doubt it’s still active, because there is a Wheelock NS horn/strobe not too far from it. I think they also might have voice-evac on the PA system for that area, and the Wheelock NSs are for additional coverage where voice-evac wouldn’t be enough.
The pull stations are mostly Simplex 4251-30s with Stopper IIs over them. At the main entrance, in the gift shop and the new wing, and a couple of other areas, the pulls are Simplex 4099-9002s, also with Stopper IIs over them. A few have the glass missing, and one had the hammer broken off!
The smoke detectors were mostly what appear to be Simplex 2098-9201 smoke heads on the newer-style TrueAlarm bases. I think this was the late 1990s version. There were also a couple of newer-style TrueAlarm smokes in the main lobby.
I recall when I went here in the mid-1990s, they had Simplex 4050 or 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates with “FIRE” on the lens. I think they might’ve had a couple of other different kinds of Simplex alarms too, but I can’t remember. I know the 4051+4050-80s were definitely not original either because the aquarium was built in 1969 (which was when the 4030s were put in). It seems similar to the system at Firefly’s elementary school, they used to have Simplex 4051+4050-80s and then replaced them with the rectangular 4903 speaker/strobes, but the pulls were different; they used to have 4251-20s but replaced them with 4099-9003s.
There is a graphic annunciator in the main lobby, with just “Fire Alarm Annunciator” on top, and no LCD display or alarm company logo. I think it might be a Simplex graphic annunciator, but I am not sure (cause Simplex graphic annunciators I know, like the one at the Davis K-8 school, have the Simplex logo on the bottom). I think the original panel from 1969 was a Simplex 4245 or 4246, which was then probably replaced with a Simplex 2001 or something, and I think they now have a Simplex 4100 or 4120 panel.
The IMAX Cinema nearby has a Wheelock MT4-24-WM horn/strobe outside, but inside they have a Simplex 4100 system (I saw the annunciator and it said it went to a 4100), and they have the rectangular 4903 signals (I’m guessing speaker/strobes), and 4099-9003 pulls with the Sigcom covers over them, and the same smokes mentioned as the aquarium head (2098-9201 heads on the newer-style TrueAlarm bases).
The North Station has a neat system; the subway station area had Wheelock MT horn/strobes. But the main station area has mostly Simplex TrueAlert speaker/strobes, and at least one unknown electronic-looking horn or speaker behind an SAE V33 strobe plate. (So THAT must be what the alarms in the Simplex 2001 system at the Shaw’s near my college are!) Some of the TrueAlert speaker/strobes are mounted so that you can tell they are replacing an older alarm (at first I thought they were replacing Simplex 4050-80s until I saw that SAE horn/strobe.) The pulls are Simplex 4099-9001s behind Stopper IIs. In the train station platforms, they have Federal Signal “loudspeaker” alarms with the pre-ADA wedge-shaped strobes on them. They reminded me a lot of what TrueAlertSpeakerStrobe’s middle school had, but the strobes are different. (Most of the MBTA commuter trains there had the crappy 1980s/early 1990s-era single-level cars and mostly the GP40MC locomotives, and at least one older-style 1980s-era F40PH.)
A Bank of America ATM center nearby has an odd setup: I saw a Simplex 2903 speaker/light, and underneath it was a Fire-Lite BG-12! I think there used to be a Simplex pull there.
South Station has the following; the subway system has Wheelock AS horn/strobes and Notifier BG-12s. There are three doors with sprinkler/fire suppression signs on them, and next to each one is a remote SpectrAlert strobe! I guess those strobes go to whatever halon/suppression system is in there.
In the main train station section, they have the Wheelock ET speakers with 7002T-style strobes on top of them! These are the main signals, but near the restrooms were Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes. In the men’s room is a Wheelock RSS strobe. At one part I also saw an SAE VA4 signal, I think it might be a speaker/strobe since it’s right near the main train station section.
Most of the pulls are these Kidde lift/pull models, they reminded me of Edwards 278B-1110s or FCI MS-2s in design. Near one exit is an RSG metal T-bar pull rebranded by Grinnell. Outside on the train station platform is that red-and-black Kidde smoke that resembles a BG-12 a bit (Firefly has one like this in his alarm collection). (The trains here were mainly MBTA commuter trains with the newer F40PH locomotives and bi-level cars, the same kinds that often go through my town, and I also saw at least two Amtrak Acela trains and one of those Northeast Corridor trains, which also had some kind of electric locomotive.)
I think the South Station, North Station and the New England Aquarium had the most interesting systems.